What? Apple to enter search market?
The departure of Eric Schmidt from the Apple board of directors has prompted a new flurry of rumors that Apple has intentions of getting into the Internet search game, along with Google and Bing.
This rumor got started several months ago, at the end of 2008. Apple was going to get into search in a big way, as another way to compete with Google and Microsoft, the other two biggest computer industry players. Even though the idea was floated in a serious way, and a lot of people ran with it, nothing ever came of it. It was, at its heart, a silly idea.
Now, with Eric Schmidt leaving the Apple board because Google is competing with Apple in the cell phone, browser, and operating system business, these rumors have come back with a vengeance. After all, the logic goes, if Google is going to compete with Apple in a number of areas, why shouldn’t Apple go into competition with Google in the search arena? And, of course, there is the situation where Apple has not accepted Google’s Voice app for download in the App Store. So the two companies are at war, right?
The other part of the rumor is that Apple wants its own “branded†search engine, for use on Macs in order to bring in more money than it currently gets from it’s deal to use Google as the default search engine in its Safari browser. They could even put a front end on someone else’s search engine, or simply develop their own and just start raking in all those search dollars, according to an article in The Register.
It is difficult to imagine why Apple would want to divert either focus or resources into the search business. No matter how you look at the recent Yahoo-Bing deal, it has to be apparent that Yahoo squandered billions on search and failed. Microsoft has done the same thing, so far with the same result. Making money in the search business is not easy. Only Google is managing to do it.
Nor is Google exactly providing much competition to Apple or anyone else with their browser, cell phone, and operating system. The reality is that Apple has the world by the tail in the cell phone and iPod business, not to mention a tidy little business in computers and apps. They are about as likely to invest in a proprietary search engine as they are to go into the gasoline retail business. So, while you’re waiting for the Apple search engine to premiere, you might want to keep an eye on the good retail corners in your town, awaiting the Apple iGas station.
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